When and How Your Baby Learns About Object Permanence

Updated: May 10, 2018

Stocksy

Why are hide-and-seek games such big hits with babies? Read on to find out and learn what important concept that and other games teach them.

Why do babies love games like peekaboo and hide-and-seek? When they're around 5 months old, they start to understand an important concept: that of object permanence, which is the awareness that favorite toys, people and other things still exist even when they're out of sight. Before they hit this developmental milestone, they think their teddy bear or blanket is gone for good when it isn't in plain view.

This is also why babies of this age delight in finding objects that are partially hidden from sight — "Is that my rattle behind your back?" Such hide-and-seek games help boost their rapidly developing brains.

Object permanence is also why babies of this age start to exhibit stranger anxiety and separation anxiety. Now they know that when Mommy leaves the room or the house, she isn't gone forever (and they want her back — now!).

Object permanence is a cognitive skill that develops in babies shortly after object recognition, which is when infants can recognize familiar objects like a favorite book, stuffed animal or toy. Babies learn object recognition when they're around 3 months old, after they can identify their parents' and other primary caregivers' faces at about 2 months old. Babies can recognize faces earlier than any other kind of object or pattern.

Interestingly, though, the idea of self-recognition develops much later, around the 15-month mark. Even though a child can identify other familiar objects and people earlier, it takes a lot longer for that child to see an image of herself and realize that it's her.

Encourage this new skill of object permanence by playing peekabo and hide-and-seek games often. Not only does your baby love them, but they're good for her cognitive development. And they can also eventually get her to understand that you will be coming back when you leave, which can be a comfort during the tough separation anxiety phases.

From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author of What to Expect the First Year. Health information on this site is based on peer-reviewed medical journals and highly respected health organizations and institutions including ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists), CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), as well as the What to Expect books by Heidi Murkoff.

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What to Expect the First Year, 3rd edition, Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel.